Jeff Jacobs cites Kathryn Parr’s research in the CCEA as part of his opinion piece about revamping the XL Center to bring economic changes to Hartford.
Read more here: http://www.courant.com/sports/hockey/hc-whale-xl-center-1116-20111115,0,3405456.column?page=1
Professor Hallwood’s article “The Case for Fiscal Autonomy for Scotland with or without Independence,” was recently quoted by a reader in the Scotsman.
Prof. Fred Carstensen’s article on the impact of the October snowstorm’s effect on the Connecticut economy was published on November 2, 2011 in the Hartford Courant.
Professor Miceli’s new book, The Economic Theory of Eminent Domain, is featured on UConn Today.
http://today.uconn.edu/
The Wall Street Journal posted an article about average salaries for 2011 graduates in various majors. Read more here.
Professor Kenneth Couch was featured in an Article on UConn Today Homepage. Read more here.
On Friday, September 9, 2011, Parag Waknis defended his dissertation titled “Essays on Economics of Leviathan Monetary and Fiscal Policies” under the supervision of Professor Christian Zimmermann.
Here is a short description of his dissertation:
Time and again situations arise in various countries where fiscal policy drives the monetary policy. This might happen as a result of unusual situations like the current financial crisis or because of lack of sufficient tax revenues. There is not much literature modeling such policy environment using a money search framework. This dissertation aims to bridge this gap by modifying a much often-used money search model to include a Leviathan or a utility maximizing central bank. The first essay studies the nature of optimal monetary policy of this monetary authority. The analysis suggests multiple outcomes with actual realization depending on context specific factors. For example, fiscal profligacy is associated with higher inflation- a fact borne out by many actual examples. The second essay evaluates a thought exercise in institutional design to control inflation in such a context. It extends the model in the first essay to create an environment with currency competition and then shows that doing so leads to a better inflation outcome under reputation concerns. The third essay looks at the political economy of fiscal policy. To account for a typical developing country setting a model with differentiated political platforms and credit-constrained voters is laid out. The credit-constrained voters depend on local public goods provision for smoothing consumption in the presence of shocks. The model’s implications are then tested with data on 17 Indian states for the period of 20 years. The data does lend substantive support to the contention that political cohesiveness affects the nature of spending. Put together, the three essays form a body of theoretical and empirical research shedding light on a monetary policy environment that features close connection with the fiscal policy.
Parag started his tenure track position on September 1, 2011, and relocated from New York City to New Bedford, MA. Congratulations, Parag!
In August 2011, Nicoleta Iliescu defended her dissertation entitled “Three Essays on Antidumping,” under the supervision of Professor Xenia Matschke. The unifying theme of the dissertation is the antidumping, currently the most intensively-used temporary trade instrument worldwide. In the first chapter of the dissertation, Nicoleta investigates the impact of the political lobbying on the antidumping practices in the US. This is an empirical paper in which a newly-constructed lobbying dataset is used. In the second chapter, in a theoretical model, Nicoleta explores the link between the existing national antidumping laws and the amount of the R&D undertaken by industries that can use antidumping as a protectionist tool. The third chapter analyzes the welfare effects of the Byrd Amendment, a law passed in the US in 2001, which had profound implications on how the collected antidumping duties were distributed.
Starting Fall 2011, Nicoleta is a Visiting Assistant Professor of Economics at Iona College in New York.
Prof. Prakash’s research on “The Returns to English Language Skills in India” was recently cited by Dr. Sanjaya Baru at The Business Standard on 15th August, 2011 (this day also happens to be the Independence Day for India).
Dr Sanjaya Baru is the Editor of a leading financial newspaper in India, The Business Standard. From May 2004 until August 2008 he was the Official Spokesman and Media Advisor to the Prime Minister of India. Prior to his official appointment, he was the Chief Editor of The Financial Express. He has also been the Associate Editor of The Economic Times and The Times of India. He is one of India’s most respected and influential commentators on political and economic issues.
Dr Sanjaya Baru has been a Professor at the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations in New Delhi, and a Member of India’s National Security Advisory Board in the Prime Minister’s Office. He is the author of Strategic Consequences of India’s Economic Performance, which was launched in the UK at the IISS in April 2007, and The Political Economy of Indian Sugar (1990). He has also published extensively on economic and strategic policy in India and abroad.
In this research work, Prof. Prakash with his co-authors (Prof. Chin at University of Houston and Dr. Azam at The World Bank) find that being fluent in English (compared to not speaking any English) increases hourly wages of men by 34%, which is as much as the return to completing secondary school and half as much as the return to completing a Bachelor’s degree. Being able to speak a little English significantly increases male hourly wages 13%. They find considerable heterogeneity in returns to English. More experienced and more educated workers receive higher returns to English. The complementarity between English skills and education appears to have strengthened over time. Only the more educated among young workers earn a premium for English skill, whereas older workers across all education groups do.
Below is Lei Chen’s opinion piece on manufacturing in the U.S.